Franchise Player
There has been a certain martial quality to some of the terminology being used in the run-up to the election. On NPR this morning
I heard John Kerry promise the people of some Baptist Church in Florida
an "Army of Lawyers" - to protect their right to vote. An Army of
Lawyers, has it really come to that? Do we have enough lawyers to
fight this war or will there be a draft? Kerry's statement had a
finger-in-the-eye quality to it as just on Friday the RNC had
annouced that they were filing a complaint with the FEC over DNC Voter
registration drives in Florida. The Washington Post article on this: GOP Accuses Democrats of Violating Campaign Law in Fla.
notes that the Democrats responded to that by providing a web link to
minutes of some county-level republican committee indicating that the
republicans were engaged in the same type of activity. The Post reports
a Bush campaign spokesman calling that a "desperate and hypocritical
attempt to divert attention". Let those French Surrender Monkeys
have irony, true Americans don't need it
Far be it for me to invoke the people who live in glass
houses rule on anyone's head. It seems that a perception has taken hold
among some of us that the electoral process is wrought with
fraud. True or not, it is already a reality to the character of
this election. So I try to set my mind back and recall: is this sort of
thing cyclic, or result of a particular set of causes and effects. Does
does it represent a bifurcation of the electorate divided
electorate an unprecedented bipolarity, or... Does it represents
the effects of expansion of electorate brought about by motor-voter
laws, and other simpler registration processes especially in
association. voter reg drives. Role of Soft money (and rules of
use) in modern mass voter registration efforts. When all this is over I
think a measurable expansion of the franchise will associated with
these changes in the laws and regulations. As well a lot of what is
being seen now as fraud, perfidy - FUD [Fear Uncertainty Doubt] is
simply the structural adjustments associated with this expansion.
I did a simple Google News search on the phrase --Voter registration Irregularities--
establishing my own node on this topic, which I will check
from time to time, (saving the list of the top twenty returns
each time). You could almost cook meals on the level of overheated
rhetoric thats showing up: the GOP's war on voting.
Still I think it safe to say there will be an appreciable amount of
ligation to this before the final gavel comes down. This is one
election where it's worth taking the time to make sure you show up at
the right polling place.
1:39:29 AM  ;;
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